App Reskinning Tools and Resources: The DIY Kit

Ever wonder what your outsourced developers or designers use when doing what they do? Or do you want to have a hand in app reskinning yourself? If so, try to learn some of the app reskinning tools or check out the resources that can help you in your way to producing your app in no time.

 

The Art of Buying Source Code

It’s easy to browse and later on pick one or two app templates among hundreds that are up for sale. But do you know that there are actually types of apps that are excellent for app reskinning? Check this out before you pick up a source code:

1. Photo Filter Apps. Social media is the only explanation. The best approach for this type of app is to have editing options that are not available on Instagram that would give the users unique results. Novelty filters are also a driving force for this type of apps. There are unlimited options, especially with seasonal novelty filters.
2. Word Games. Gone are the days where you can see someone seriously poring over the game section of the newspaper but still, the games found in newspapers are a classic hit that would never grow old. That’s why it’s no surprise that word and number puzzles are also excellent for mobile devices. Personality, trivia and pop quizzes had been a staple of online game clubs for years now. All you need to replace are the basic templates and the questions and you’re good.
3. Infinite Runners. Runners are easy to adapt to a new theme and new set of characters. Its mechanics allows for a lot of creative options.
4. Racing Games. These classic games had been time tested and don’t really need any out-of-the-box creative input. What makes a racing game stand out is the theme, competitiveness of the game’s difficulty and ease of the controls.
5. Match 3. Candy Crush Saga proved that a skin can go far beyond being just another colored jelly. Most match 3 puzzles have simple interfaces, that development can only involve a few tweaks and excellent graphics.
6. Flappy anything? This trend seems not to wane so far and most reskinners are aiming for the novelty. Has anyone tried flappy cockroaches yet?
7. Interactive kids games. Kids are surprisingly biting a considerable chunk from the app market. The dentist, doctor, and ABC learning apps are quite a hit, especially to the younger age bracket. You can create different versions and even sequels to these apps.
8. Shooter games. Glu Games Inc. has a popular deer shooting app that had gone off with sequels and different versions. Shooting games have great potential in app reskinning. You can change the settings, the target animals  or even add a story twist to it.
9. Pet games. Games are excellent for app reskinning – that’s given. But pet games specifically will give you almost unlimited options for app reskinning. Pet grooming, pet adventure, even exotic pets can be the theme for this type of reskin.
10. Quote/Meme Generator. The reskinning won’t be as extensive as game apps and constant updates would be necessary so as not to exhaust the quotes/memes available. This is also excellent for attracting bulk traffic for seasonal and trending topics.

 

Now, where to buy source code for these things?

 

App Marketplaces You Should Check Out

CodeCanyon

CodeCanyon is touted as the biggest script and code marketplace online. It is a part of the Envato marketplace. It offers more than 1,700 mobile app templates for Android, iOS, Titanium and native web. Most of the codes are new and are similar (if not identical) to apps already published in app stores.  But, on the plus side, these codes are often compatible with a wide range of Android and iOS versions.

 

Chupamobile

Chupamobile is a popular app buy and sell marketplace. Source codes and graphic assets are available for both iOS and Android platform. There are also helpful materials available, mostly tutorials on app building and platform-specific software. They have a price range slider that starts from $0.00 (though I don’t think there are any free source codes available) to $9999.00. There are two main categories: game templates (includes 8 subcategories) and app templates (also with 8 subcategories).

 

Bluecloud Solutions

This website is a blog/resource/app marketplace run by “Reskin King” Carter Thomas. Thomas guarantees that he and his team of developers pre-tested all source codes available for sale. He also offers free resources and courses on app reskinning.  Most importantly, there are various ways to contact the site’s active support team for any questions or complaint about their products.

 

Fliptopia

This is the app buy and sell subsidiary of Apptopia. Most of the featured apps here are live and ranking in app stores. So it is expected that these apps aren’t cheap, done by the dozen reskins. But not all of these apps are actually top performing. Some of them are part of app portfolios. Performance summary and details of the app for the past 6 months is available in the app listings; this can include listing notes from the developer. There is also an option to offer an amount to the developer or talk to the app’s broker.

 

Sell My App

This specialized source code marketplace boasts of high app exposure through global marketing and social media. The site’s listings are more of adverts specifying the product, terms of agreement and licensing specifications. Therefore, negotiation is direct between the buyer and seller. This is an excellent setup if you want to know the specifications of the source code directly from the developer.

 

How to Get Started:

Mobile App Development Tools

You can check this article for iOS, Android and cross-platform tools for the app development.

 

Graphics

Graphics is probably the soul of app reskinning. Graphics can either make or break your app – it is that important. What’s a good source code without the visuals to back it up?

 

Graphics Editing Tools:

• Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe combined all of its creative desktop and mobile apps. Desktop apps includes:

1. Photoshop. This popular image editing and compositing tool will be helpful with stock images that you may need in reskinning your app.
2. Illustrator. You can use this tool to create 2d vector graphics and illustration.
3. After Effects. This is excellent for production-quality motion graphics to use in your app’s UI design.

Mobile apps as accompaniments for the desktop apps:

1. Adobe Shape. For the creation of custom-shaped vector assets.
2. Adobe Color. Theme creation for your app template and UI assets.
3. Adobe Preview. This app will enable you to preview multiple designs in iOS and see how they will look when they go live.

• Texture Packer : This tool generates sprite sheets –  large images composed of combined sprites. Sprite sheets make the game launch faster, the gameplay smoother while consuming minimum memory without sacrificing the graphics quality. It can directly export and import different image formats for use in different game engines like Unity, Cocos2D X, Cocos2D, Corona and much more. There is a seven-day trial period or a free license for bloggers and developers in the game development, and art niche. CodeAndWeb GmbH would just have a look at your blog and if you qualify (your blog needs to have at least 5 recent posts) they will send you an email with the license keys.

• Tiled : This map editor is general purpose and versatile. It will allow you to easily create and edit map layouts and save these layouts in the standard TMX (Translation Memory eXchange (a file format used as a standard method to describe translation memory data among different tools and translation vendors with little to no loss of data)) format. It is excellent in creating tile-based (tiles are the small images or building blocks of larger images)  level maps for your 2D game. Tiled is a free tool and its newest release, version 0.12.0 was community supported.

• TinyPNG : This tool uses smart lossy compression that enables it to compress PNG images without losing alpha transparency. Therefore, compressed images would appear not to have any difference from the original image even with the 70% file size reduction. Similar tools include PNGoo, Pngyu, and SuperPNG Photoshop plug-in.

 

Graphic Assets:

1. ShutterShock : You can find more than 50 million photos, vector illustration, videos and music to use as assets in your app.
2. Vector Finder : A directory that lists popular stock image websites, Vector Stock will help in your search for vector assets.
3. Pixel Snacks : Bundles of icons, buttons, sliders and much more can be bought here for use as elements of your app’s UI.

 

Colors:

1. myPANTONE Mobile Apps : This app is available as myPANTONE 2.3.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch and myPANTONE for Android. It gives you accessibility to Pantone color palettes.
2. 0 to 255 : This is a straightforward tool that allows you to find variations of a specific color. This is excellent especially if you are building a monochromatic palette for your app template.
3. ColorMunki : This brand provides a range of color creation and control tools. This is excellent if you want your app to have a strong memory recall by branding it with your own distinctive color.
4. Pictaculous : This online color palette generator suggests color palettes according to images you upload in its interface.

 

Fonts

1. WhatTheFont Mobile : This app can help you identify the font used in an image or web graphic. It directly connects to the font identification service provided by MyFont.
2. iFontMaker : You can create freehand typefaces that you can then convert into TTF file or as a web font. You can edit the typeface you created using Bezier tools. This iPad app can also support Unicode.
3. Fontshop : Fonts are grouped according to families and styles in this online font haven. This would be excellent in providing consistency all throughout the app interface.
4. Letterhead Fonts. This is a collection of rare and unique functional and decorative fonts. Most of these fonts are vintage, rustic and historical (many other categories are also available) – perfect for an era-themed skin.
5. FontSpring : This website offers a worry-free perpetual font licensing.

 

Music and Sound Effects

The music and sound effects work hand-in-hand with the visuals to give the users an experience of interest and excitement that would keep them hooked in a game. Though some may just mute the sounds altogether if they hate your selection, it still pays to have that right bang and ring in perfect moments to keep your users pumped up about your app. Here is another list of resources and tools that will help you look for that perfect game over taunting melody.

1. FreeSound.org : This is a database of creative commons-licensed sounds. Developers and users collaborate to further expand the database.  So it’s not surprising that most of the sounds are excellent for gaming sound and effects.
2. SupaSounds : SupaSounds provides sounds specifically designed for apps. There are 30-second loops music and sound effects for different types of games and music genre. The site also offers a business partnership with indie developers by offering app promotion as long as the SupaSounds logo appears in the splash screen of the app.
3. AudioJungle : This site is part of the Envato Market ecosystem. There are over 271,661 royalty free audio assets to choose from. An audio file starts at $1 to no more than $20.

 

Outsourcing App Development

So you’ve come this far. But you’re doubtful if you’re really cut out for this amount work. Don’t worry, just take a peek into some of the largest freelance contracting sites and maybe you can find someone that can fix your dilemma.

 

Upwork (formerly Odesk)

Upwork has an organized system of freelancers from around the world that can work for your app project. You can either post a job where freelancers can apply or contact one of the freelancers who you want to do the work.

 

Freelancer

Freelancer.com has close to 16,000,000 users. You can choose to either post a project or contest for the freelancers to bid or join into. There are  Mobile Phones and Computing category with 21 subcategories and a Design, Media and Architecture category where you can find expert graphics designer, template designers among others.

 

Monetization and Optimization

If you aren’t planning on tweaking the code, as in game apps where almost the entire game stays the same, the most you’d be doing with the code involves changing the detail of in-app purchases and ad networks. Adding many ad networks may look too aggressive, especially in the eyes of reviewers from Apple but remember that you have the option to pause them for the mean time so that in case one network is not performing well for you, you’ll have a lot of options to choose from.

1. AdMob : Google’s ad technology powers this network. It is available for Android, iOS, Unity and Cocos 2d-x. It is also integrated with Google Play services and Google Analytics.  The integration of Google Play services is especially advantageous since it boosts the app’s performance with automatic updates. Another great feature is the use of local currencies in payments. If you’re interested in this ad network, here is an article on how to create an Admob account.
2. RevMob : It utilizes a two-line SDK that enables fast integration that supports almost all platforms and supported stores. Among the supported stores are the App Store, Google Play store, Amazon, Baidu and many others. This is a profitable network and you’ll need to reach $50 dollars in revenue before you can receive any payment.
3. Chartboost : This is a mobile games-only network. It has the added bonus of cross-promotion, a direct ad dealership marketplace, interstitial and mobile video ads. Chartboost also offers an environment of transparency by letting developers know who advertises in their games and where their ads appear and those ads’ performance. Just like in RevMob, you need to earn  a minimum amount ($75 this time) before receiving any payment.
4. AppLovin : Applovin uses data gathered from the behavior research on users and integrates this as a marketing strategy to improve your revenue by using targeted marketing. It is said that users are three times more likely to purchase an item advertised on an Applovin message. Payments are on every 15th of the month via PayPal.
5. TapJoy : This network employs advanced analytics to identify “whales” from “one-time spenders”. Tapjoy’s marketing platform also predicts the revenue you can earn with the automated marketing suggestions it makes. Whales can even make you earn more revenue through the IAP boost through Automated Push Messages. This Marketing Automation Platform is free to use if you choose to monetize with TapJoy.

 

App Store Optimization (ASO) Tools

1. SensorTower : This tool is the one-stop shop for ASO, analytics, market and competitive intelligence. It allows you to review pertinent data regarding category rankings, leaderboards, daily downloads, revenue reports, keyword performance and market trends.
2. AppAnnie : This tool provides intelligence solutions for players in the app economy. It is one of the most trusted tools, even used by 90% of the top 100 publishers. AppAnnie provides store stats and charts that show the historical data of the top 1,000 apps of several platforms. These data may include your placement within the top 1,000 in each country and ratings. AppAnnie’s app intelligence features allow for the monitoring of competitors, monetization, expansion and other business development strategies.
3. AppFigures : This tool aims to visualize data in the most effective and practical way. It features intensive tracking of analytics, from hourly rankings in each country to its ability to track cross-platform stores simultaneously.
4. Distimo : This tool is a veteran in the field of ASO.  It was launched just after the establishment of the first app store. You can customize the dashboard and prioritize only on data that matters for you. Its main features include App Analytics, Conversion Tracking, AppIQ (provides raw download numbers and revenue estimates) and API.
5. MetricsCat : The factors that lead to the app’s longevity are the main focus of this tool. It is a powerful analytics tool that translates data into a fair analysis of the mobile market. MetricsCat monitor ratings, ranking and competitor performance. Additionally, MetricsCat offers native language translations of reviews as a means of understanding user sentiment.

 

There you have it! I hope this guide had been useful in your app reskinning endeavor. Let’s all continue to learn and discover more about this interesting industry.